Combined friction and spring-draft rigging.



W. D. LOWRY. I COMBINED FRICTION AND SPRING DRAFT RIGGING. APPLICATIONIILED JULY 10. 190B.

964, 1 73a Patented July 12, 1910.

THE NORRIS PETERS co., wnsmlvcrulv, n. c.

WILLIAM D. LOWRY, ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

COMBINED FRICTION AND SPRING-DRAFT RIGGING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 10, 1908.

Patented July 12, 191%.

Serial No. 442,838.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I,W1LLIAM D. Lower, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing in the city of St. Louis and State of Missouri, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Combined Friction andSpring-Draft Riggings, of which the following is a full, clear, andexact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,forming part of this specification.

My invention relates to a draft rigging for railway cars and it has forits object the construction of a draft rigging whereby the initialportion of the shock or strain in the draft upon cars may be taken byfriction elements and the remaining portion of the strain be taken by adraft and bufier spring which is more elastic or yielding than thefriction elements.

Another object of my invention is to provide a draft rigging in whichthe draft and buffer spring takes the initial portion of the bufiingshock or stress and the remaining portion of such shock or stress isreceived by the friction elements that offer greater resistance than thedraft and buffer spring.

By a construction of the description recited, I provide a rigging thatwhen in service as a draft appliance for a railway car is less elasticand not as susceptible of stretching as the ordinary types of draftriggings, thereby making it possible to start a train of cars with lessexpenditure of power on the part of the locomotive. The constructionalso provides for the draft and buffer spring acting initially inbuffing to cushion the bufling shock after which the shock, if greaterthan that the spring is susceptible of taking, is transmitted to thefriction elements.

Figure I is a longitudinal horizontal section taken through my draftrigging. Fig. II is a vertical longitudinal section through the rigging.Fig. III is a cross section taken on line III-III, Fig. II.

In the accompanying drawings: A designates members of the underframe ofa railway car, for instance, the center sills.

B is a cheek plate supported by the frame members A and by which themovable parts of my rigging are supported. The check plate B is providedwith side members 1 more widely apart at their rear ends than at theirforward ends and provided with abutments 2, see Fig. I. At the front endof the cheek plate B are abutments 3 and at the rear end of said bearerand facing the abutments 2 are abutments 4:.

5 designates a draw bar having its inner end loosely fitted in theforward end of the cheek plate B and adapted to move between theabutments 3. This draw bar is provided with a yoke 6 that extendsrearwardly through the cheek plate and is adapted to play between therear abutments 4.

7 is a forward follower located within the yoke 6 at the rear end of thedraw bar and 8 is a lug carried by said follower. I

9 is a rear follower located within the yoke 6 and opposing the forwardfollower 7 and the lug carried thereby. Between the followers 7 and 9 isa draft and buffer spring 10 and also preferably an auxiliary draft andbuffer spring 11.

12 designates a follower within the draw bar yoke and resting againstthe rear end of said yoke, this follower being normally in the use ofthe rigging in the position against the rear abutments 4: of the bearerB.

13 are inner tapered friction blocks that rest at their rear endsagainst the follower 12 and between which is a spreader spring 14 thatserves to hold said friction blocks spread from each other.

15 are outer tapered friction blocks which are positioned against theintermediate abutments 2 of the cheek plate B and rest against the sidemembers of said bearer back of the abutments and are in contact with theinner friction blocks 13. The outer friction blocks extend inwardlybeyond the inner faces of the side members of the cheek plate and areengaged by the rear follower 9 against which the draft and buffer spring10 bears.

The operation of my draft rigging in the practical use is as follows:IVhen the draw bar 5 is subjected to draft in the starting of a train ofcars, the yoke of said draw bar, by pressing at its rear end against thefollower 12, acts to impart forward movement to said follower and thefollower in turn acts to drive the inner friction blocks 13 forwardly infrictional contact with the outer friction blocks 15 so that saidfrictionally engaged members will take the shock or strain incident tothe draft and without the draft and buffer spring 10 being affected atsuch time. The friction elements ust referred to are capable of offeringgreater resistance in the draft action than the draft and bufier springand consequently they do not yield to the extent that the draft andbuffer spring would, although suchelements yield sufficiently to cushionthe shock incident to the draft. It will therefore be seen that, due tothe greater resistance offered by the frictional elements, a morepositive or less stretching draft action is obtained in starting a carin motion, which makes it easier for the locomotive to start the car andpossible for the locomotive to give the desired action with less energy.If the friction elements do not aiford sufficient resistance to take theentire shock of the draft, due, for instance to the cars of a trainbeing heavily loaded, the inner friction blocks 13 continue to moveforwardly until they strike against the rear follower 9 and cause saidfollower to act against the draft and buffer spring with the result ofbringing said spring into action as an additional shock receivingmember.

In bufling actions the draft and buffer spring, which affords lessresistance than the friction elements of the rigging, takes the force ofthe shock of bufiing, initially, thereby affording easy cushioningaction when one car is moved toward another, and if the buffing shock isslight the entire shock is taken by said spring, due to the frictionelements ofiering greater resistance than the spring. If the bufiingshock is suflicient to cause compression of the draft and buffer spring,the lug 8 carried by the forward follower 7 moves into engagement withthe rear follower 9 and said rear follower is therefore pressedrearwardly by said lug in engagement with the outer friction blocks 15,causing said friction blocks to act against the inner friction blocks inorder that the friction elements may act as shock receiving members.

Claims:

1. In a draft rigging, the combination of a support having an abutment,a draw bar,a friction element adapted to rest against said abutment, asecond friction element movable in contact with said first namedfriction element and operable by said draw bar, and a draft and bufferspring adapted to be acted upon by said movable friction element afterthe latter has yieldingly resisted the draft movement of said draw bar,substantially as set forth.

2. In a draft rigging, the combination of a support having stationaryabutments, a draw bar, a pair of frictional elements adapted to restagainst said abutments, a second pair of friction elements movable incontact with said first named friction elements and operable by saiddraw bar, and a draft and buffer spring adapted to be acted upon by saidmovable friction elements after they have yieldingly resisted the draftmovement of said draw bar, substantially as set forth.

3. In a draft rigging, the combination of a support having a stationaryabutment, a draw bar, a friction element having its forward end restingagainst said abutment, a second friction element movable in contact withsaid first named friction element and operable by said draw bar, forwardand intermediate followers within said support, a draft and bufferspring interposed between said forward and intermediate followers; saidintermediate follower being adapted to be acted upon in the forwardmovement of the draw bar by said movable-friction element to cause it toact upon said spring after the friction elements have yieldinglyresisted the movement of said draw bar, substantially as set forth.

H. G. 0001:, BLANOHE HOGAN.

